Blooming Bridget

So, I think I'm going to start documenting some of the things we're doing around these parts for Bridget's learning time.  I like to think of it as "Blooming Bridget" time.  It's when she shows me the amazing things that she can do and starts to blossom into an awesome little thinker (among other things).

Now, we're just starting to do a somewhat structured (in that I have a plan for what I'd like to expose her to that day) learning time.  I'd love to be able to look back in later years and see what Bridget was learning and doing at this time in her life.  So, welcome to the first of the Blooming Bridget posts!

This is Bridget with an absolutely fabulous sensory tub we won through a giveaway with Time for Tots etsy shop.  If you have young learners, please check out her shop.  I think I'm in love and would go broke buying up her entire inventory if I could.  I can't even tell you how much I (and Bridget) love this tub!  Check out all the fun things Bridget got to explore...

Beads, erasers, presents, foam snowflakes, bells, colored rice, shiny stuff, and a DUCK!  Bridget absolutely loved playing with everything and was fascinated with the using the tongs to pick things up.  After these pictures, we covered everything up and played treasure hunt looking for all of the letters.  We must have played and learned with this for at least a half hour before she was finished.  Seriously awesome.  Bridget will now ask to "play rice" and will get her yellow play blanket, bring it into the kitchen, and wait for me to set everything up for her.  After a month of playing with this set, I have decided that Bridget needs a new set each month. These sensory tubs work on so many developmental needs and are so much fun!

I'll show you what we have for February in another post. ;)

She amazes me...

Every.Single.Day. Be warned, this is a blog post for me to put down some of the things I don't want to forget that Bridget is doing at 18 months. 

Bridget is amazing to me. I can't believe that she's a part of Mike and me some days. She's so smart and seems to learn something new every day. Some of her newest developments:

*She is really grasping ASL now.
*Her favorite show is Signing Time on PBS.  We have all learned so much from it. Animals, family members, manners, food, toys.  It's great!
*She recognizes any letter in sign or print. 
*Same with her numbers to 10. 
*She can count out loud to 13.
*A few days ago, she put together words in sign to make a sentence using no voice.  She said, "Please Daddy cheese" asking Mike to cut her off some cheese.  We were so proud of her!
*She knows most of her body parts and LOVES to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."
*She builds block towers and then laughs maniacally when she knocks them down.
*She still loves to read.
*She helps clean up and put things away.  Her favorite "game" is to get something from Mommy and bring it to Daddy to put away.  We do this often when emptying the dishwasher (Mommy's least favorite chore).
*She repeats pretty much any new word she hears.  Daddy has had to start being REALLY careful with his words.  It has also really made me realize how often I say some things as I now hear them out of her mouth.  Most often heard: "Oh boy!" when she's excited, "mm hmm" (with a higher pitch at the end) in confirmation of anything, and yelling the names of the animals (oops).
*Dancing, singing, laughing, coloring, puzzles, and just learning about life.

There's so much more but I'll leave it at that for now.  I can't believe how much she's grown.  She's such a little girl now and not a baby anymore.  I love it but it's a little bittersweet.

Coming clean

Alright, this here blog has been neglected long enough. It's time for me to just get the big stuff out in the open so I don't feel like I'm hiding things and can get back to my regular posts with random bits of crappiness thrown in. I'm going to work in bullet points because it seems the best way to keep from the total crazy ramblings going on in my head.

*First and foremost, know that we are all healthy. Aside from the random cough/cold/flu type stuff, we're all good.

*Biggest stress right now: our home. We're losing it. There are many, many reasons for this and it's extremely stressful and heartbreaking. Adding to this stress is the fact that we're so up in the air about it all right now. We don't know how long we'll be able to stay in the house before they foreclose on us. We also don't know where we're going to go after they do. HUGE STRESS!

*A very close second stress: money. Isn't it always? As of right now, Mike is the only one in our home working. I resigned from the school district last year as we were planning to move this past summer. That fell through and so I am without a job. *sigh* So now, were in the position of me needing to find a job that makes it worth it for me to go back to work and put Bridget in daycare again. This is NOT easy in today's economy.

Ok, so that's out. There are several other stresses going on but they fall far behind after these two. I'm not posting this for any kind of pity or fix-it solutions, but just to get it out there so that I can move on and start spending my brain power on something a bit more productive than constant worry. *sigh*

And now, just to end on a positive note and because I never did post about Bridget's first trick or treating, here's the best shot I got of her in her costume. Isn't she the cutest butterfly?

An autumn update...with VIDEOS!

We've been having fun so far this Fall. This is my favorite type of year and I'm having so many new and exciting adventures around here. Tonight, I'm posting a few videos that make me smile.

Some days she'll count all the way from 0 to 9. If I write them down, she'll do it every time. This absolutely amazes me! I think it's from Mike playing with the foam numbers every night at bath time.

Bubbles! And Grammi has a great backyard to run around and chase them in. Now if only we could get rid of the poisonous oleander bushes!

I hope you're smiling! Happy Fall everyone. Coming soon... Pumpkin patch and first Trick-or-Treating pictures!

Your science lesson for the day

Putting your iPod into the bathroom sink basin* while it's playing your favorite internet radio station makes it loud enough that you can continue to sing along while you shower.  Just thought you might want to know.














* Just make sure it's dry.  I don't think you'll get the same results if it's full of water.  :)

A problem with children's books (Part 2)

I love this book.  Really, I do.  I actually love this series of books.  We found the Shapes and Numbers books at the library and have checked them out twice now.  What I love about these books is that they use real life objects to show where things appear in every day life.  This has helped me work with Bridget's vocabulary while having fun.

 "What color is the flower?"

Why yes, it's red!  And see the other great examples?  They're all labeled as well.  It's so great!

Then you go thorough blue and green and yellow.

Then, there's the last page.

 

What color is the...orange?

Well duh, it's orange!  We had to show an orange AND orange juice?  Has no one ever heard of a carrot?

So much time, so little blogging

Seriously people, I have no excuse for not blogging.  I've just been avoiding it.  We've got a lot going on here (nothing too exciting, believe me) and it's just been taking all of my energy to handle it.  Hopefully it will all be solved by the end of the month and then I can get back to blogging. 

I'm actually kinda mad at myself for not keeping up with this because really, this is how I document the things Bridget is doing.  I'm terrible at getting things written into her baby book,  I start with great intentions but, eh, it just never gets done.

So, here's a quick update on us (only the good parts):

Bridget is more and more brilliant every day.  I know all parents say that, but she amazes me with something new all the time!  She talks up a storm.  She knows most of her colors, how to count to 3 (and she can get most of the numbers through 10 with help), loves playing "in and out" with her toys, can sort her shapes into the right holes on her sorting toy, and knows about 10 signs.  And she loves to eat!  She climbs up into her highchair and sits patiently while we get her in and give her food.  Her favorites are bananas (NAAAAAANAAAAAAAAA!!!), cheerios (chee-o), cheddar bunnies (bunneee), waffles (waffu), dried fruit (which are all called apple (apoo) by Bridget), cheese (which she signs), and pasta (pa-taaa in a whispery voice). Oh, and cookies (coo-coo), which to Bridget is anything sweet that she likes. She eats tons of other stuff that she doesn't have words for like oatmeal, pickles, and PB&J sandwiches.

My big news is that I am a stay at home mom.  Woohoo!  I am loving it.  However, this is what's leading to a bunch of issues here in our home.  It was pretty unplanned for me to be a SAHM but we're making the best of the situation.  It's been great to have the time to bring Bridget to have new experiences and watch her enjoy being, well, her.

 We've gone to the park and played on the slides and in the water features.

 We went to the children's museum and played with the fruits and veggies (which I was surprised she could mostly name). (Oh, and horrible picture of her -sorry about that)

 

 And we played with the balls in the simple machines room.  Bridget had an absolute BLAST putting the balls into this things and watching them go through the twists and turns.

Mike is working and hoping to be up for a new position soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this as it will help lift the pressure off of him and I think he'll be happier working with computers again.

If you made it this far thorough my ramblings, congrats!  That's all from here for now.  I'm not making any promises, but hopefully I'll be able to get myself to post a bit more soon.  Thanks for sticking with me!